


Target

by pickleplum



Series: Postcards from Anchorage [5]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Fluff, Friday Fluff, Gen, Science Bros, adorable science uncles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 05:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1027607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Very good, Miss Mori. Now it’s my turn.” Hermann’s snowball flies straight as an arrow and strikes a figure in the middle distance precisely between the shoulder blades.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Target

Mako Mori has never seen so much snow. Or much snow at all, really. Tanegashima was much too warm for it. _Sensei_ brought her to Anchorage and she finds all of its whiteness fascinating. She listens to the delicious crunch her pink boots make as she walks and marvels at how the cold air somehow makes her cheeks _warm_.

She finds one of the base’s scientists leaning on a railing near the entrance to the housing area. “Hello, Gottlieb- _hakase_ ,” she says with a smile.

“Miss Mori! Hello!” he answers. “Are you enjoying our marvelous Alaskan weather? It must be quite a change from Sydney.”

“ _Hai._ It is _cold_ here!” Mako and the scientist chat for a while, with the man helping the little girl when she struggles with her English. There’s a comfortable pause while they look out toward the gray water of Turnagain Arm with only a few passing people breaking up the view.

“Has anyone shown you how to make a snowball, Miss Mori?” Hermann asks, breaking the silence. He treats Mako to one of his rare smiles. His eyes even sparkle a little mischievously. She shakes her head. “Well, now is a good time to learn,” he says.

He crouches awkwardly and scrapes together two handfuls of snow, then packs the powder tightly together. Mako mirrors his actions and ends up with a smaller and slightly lumpier projectile. “Now we wind up and throw it like a baseball. After you, Miss Mori.” Mako’s toss floats high through the air and plops down into a drift about five feet away.

“Very good, Miss Mori. Now it’s my turn.” Hermann’s snowball flies straight as an arrow and strikes a figure in the middle distance precisely between the shoulder blades. It disintegrates on impact and bits fly up into the target’s wild hair.

Hermann is stronger than Mako thought. He’s also trying very, very hard not to laugh as he ducks his head to assemble another missile.

“ _HEY!_ ” a familiar voice yells a beat later than expected. “WHO THE _HELL_ THREW THAT?”

Mako and Hermann look at each other, burst out laughing, and prepare the next volley as Newt- _hakase_ begins to storm in their direction, drifts that reach his knees slowing his progress. “You kids don’t know who you’re messing with here!” he rants as he draws closer.

Hermann’s next shot hits Newt square in the face. Mako’s thumps into his leg a split second later. They work on the next round, businesslike despite their smiles, as Newt tries to clear his glasses.

“Wait. Mako? Why’re you…?” He blinks and finally recognizes the figure hunched next to her. “ _Hermann?_ You put her up to this, you evil….“ Whatever was coming is wiped out when Mako’s next attempt catches him on the chin and Hermann’s hits him hard enough in the chest to knock some of the wind out of him.

“Oh, it’s so _ON_!” Newt cries and begins packing a weapon of his own.

The scene descends into chaos and laughter with snowballs flying back and forth with varying degrees of accuracy.

Newt’s last throw sails between his antagonists. Instead of the soft sound of the orb falling harmlessly to the ground, the three of them hear a solid thud. Newt looks like he’s seen a ghost and freezes. Mako and Hermann turn around slowly.

Marshal Pentecost-- _Sensei_ \--brushes the snow off his coat, sighs, and says “Mako, it’s time to come in for dinner.”

**Author's Note:**

> Mako had to learn to throw snowballs at some point. I like to think it went something like this.
> 
> Turnagain Arm is a branch of the Anchorage harbor south of the city proper. I’m not sure where the Shatterdome is located in relation to the city, but the name was too interesting for me not to drop it. In my defense, I’m a librarian by inclination, training, and employment, so I research just about _everything _.__
> 
>  
> 
> _  
> _Recommended listening:[The Sound, _Jeopardy_ , Track 2, “Heartland”](http://youtu.be/ppwQkyPVgu0)._  
> _


End file.
